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The search to identify USA Basketball’s 3x3 National Team players continued this past weekend at the Red Bull 3X qualifier hosted by Duncanville Fieldhouse just outside Dallas.

In the men’s finale, it was a showdown between Hoop Squad, led by Dallas native and Baylor University alum King McClure, and La Familia, led by former Hardin-Simmons University standout Derrick Jefferson. McClure and Jefferson were top-ranked recruits out of high school and both went on to star at their respective universities.

Both of the final teams emerged from the same pool-play group, with La Familia earning the three seed and Hoop Squad coming into the final 16-team knockout bracket as a 13 seed. McClure showed his inside and outside game by knocking down crucial 2-point long balls and taking advantage of the spread out 3x3 format by driving the ball to the basket. In the end, Hoop Squad was victorious with a 15-11 win, earning crucial FIBA points.

“The 3x3 format is a conditioning drill, it’s nonstop, you get exposed really quick if you have a weakness,” said McClure of Hoop Squad. “It’s more mentally challenging than five-on-five because you’re always thinking, always strategizing. It’s a lot of isolation play and then quick transitions from offense to defense, it’s a live ball so no stopping. We fought our fatigue and outlasted them today.”

In the women’s finale, 2-pointers were the name of the game, with Stanford University alum Kiran Lakhian leading Misfits to a 21-9 victory over Black Magic. Lakhian was joined by fellow Stanford grad Alex Green, Harvard standout Sydney Skinner, and Saint Mary’s alum Laura Calderon.

“Today was super competitive, really hard fought games,” said Skinner. “It’s great to be able to come out here and compete at a high level. There aren’t a ton of opportunities for women’s basketball after college so it’s nice to see these types of events; with such a solid lineup of talented women’s teams involved, there’s obviously a demand.”

Seventeen Red Bull 3X qualifiers are in the books, with five more to come, including a triple header this coming weekend in Boston, Memphis and Chicago. These qualifying tournaments across the country will help identify the players who could potentially represent USA Basketball’s men’s and women’s 3x3 national teams.

The winning teams at these qualifiers will have an opportunity of advancing to the Red Bull USA Basketball 3X Regionals (Chicago on Sept. 8; New York on Sept. 14; Atlanta on Sept. 21; and Los Angeles on Sept. 29), and then on to the Red Bull USA Basketball 3X Nationals in April 2020.

3x3 is played on a half court with a 10-minute game clock and 12-second shot clock, where the winner is the first team to score 21 points or the team in the lead at the end of the 10-minute regulation.

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